Rivet feeding device



Nov. 7, 1950 'r. R. KNOWLES RIVET FEEDING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJuly 5, 1945 INVENTORB 72x57- Z Mamas BY fWFV Nov. 7, 1950 T. R. KNOWLES2,529,165

RIVET FEEDING DEVICE Filed July 5, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.721.507 mow?! Nov. 7, 1950 'r. R. KNOWLES RIVE'I FEEDING nnvzcs 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 5, 1945 INVENTOR. 2150 E Mon 1.6.5

@raPA/Ey Nov. 7, 1950 T. R. KNOWLES RIVET FEEDING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet4 Filed July 5, 1945 7, a l 2 m m E M W e W/ Patented Nov. 7, 1950 RIVETFEEDING DEVICE Talbot R. Knowles, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor toDouglas Aircraft Company, Inc., Santa Monica, Calif.

Application July 5, 1945, Serial No. 603,314

15 Claims. (CI. 7848) This invention relates to fastener feeding devicesfor association with pneumatic fastenerdriving tools. As will becomemanifest, it is particularly well adapted for attachment to pneumaticriveters, but is not necessarily limited in the scope of its utility toassociation with riveters. being equally well adapted for attachment topneumatically operated fastener drivers of other categories, such asthose for driving screws.

Automatic rivet feeding attachments have been proposed for pneumaticriveters heretofore. However, in the usual such proposal the fastenersare gravity-fed to the set of the riveter, and hence operate in oneposition only. Other proposals necessitate the employment of a long,trailing, auxiliary air hose to feed the rivets to the tool from adistance. Some proposals include a tubular magazine on the gun to whichfluid pressure is applied from the exhaust of the tool. Such devicesrequire hand loading of a holder in the tubular magazine. The rivets orother fasteners hence have to be inserted thereinto by hand, one at atime, in carefully controlled atttudes or positions of alignment.Moreover, such feeding attachments are loadable only in the "right sideup position, the magazine not being loadable in the inverted attitude inwhich it is quite often necessary to load a riveting gun or the like.There are other tubular magazine types of feeders which necessitatefrequent and laborious hand placement of rivets in a magazine loadingmachine which is then employed to load the gun. Still others requireloading of a detached magazine, which is then attached to the gun.

, Such feeding attachments, while doubtless constituting an improvementon that mode which involves feeding rivets by hand one at a time intothe rivet hole, are thus quite restricted in their stone and in theirutility.

The present invention obviates all these disadvantages and providessuperior feeding of fasteners to a fastener-driving tool by means of afastener feeding attachment in which can be con tamed a relativelyunlimited supply of fasteners. The fasteners are poured by hand into thecontainer or chamber on the gun without the aid of a loading machine orthe like, in the form of a loose bulk, and without regard to their beingin disarray. No pre-loading of a tubular or other magazine is required.Part'of the operating pressure of the pneumatic tool is diverted intothe I loaded fastener-container in such a way as to automaticallyarrange and feed the fasteners into a magazine, which is automaticallymaintained full at all times, with a fastener always ready in anotherportion of the device for delivery to the set of the driving tool. Thus,no handling of the fasteners is required, either to arrange them. toload the magazine, or to deliver the fasteners, one at a time, to thefastener driving zone of the pneumatic tool. The arranging means,feeding means, magazine, and delivery means are entirely independent of,and unaffected by, the action of gravity, and the device is henceoperative in any position or attitude of the pneumatic tool. includingthe inverted attitude. A portion of the operating fluid pressure for thetool itself being utilized to effect the fastener arranging and feedingactions and part of the delivery action of the attachment, no auxiliaryair hoses or other booster devices are required.

The fastener feeding attachment can either be built in with the rest ofthe pneumatic tool or be readily fitted to conventional tools withoutrequiring any structural changes or other modifications in the toolitself. The fastener feeding attachment can be applied to a variety ofpneumatic tools of the class described and in each case it operates fromthe fluid channel used to operate the driving member of the pneumatictool. The attachment enables the operator to work much faster, yet withless effort than when using tools of the type described above.

The invention also provides an automatic fastener-feeding attachment forpneumatic fastener-driving tools which is much simpler, and has fewermoving parts, than comparable conventional fastener-feeders. It hencecan be manufactured relatively cheaply on the large quantity scale, thusplacing it within the financial reach of small purchasers.

The other accomplishments and advantages of the invention will becomemanifest as this specification proceeds. The presently preferredembodiment of these and other inventive concepts is illustrated, by wayof exemplification only, in the accompanying drawings, and described indetail hereinafter. It is to be understood, however, that the inventionis limited in the embodiments it can take only by the scope of theaccompanyfer;

the driving condition of the gun;

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective of a portion of the feedingmechanism, showing a controlling detent in the position which itoccupies when the gun is in the condition illustrated in Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a similar view of the same portion of the device in theposition which it occupies when the gun is in the condition illustratedin Figure 4;

Figure '7 is a similar view of the same portion of the gun in theposition which it occupies when the gun is in the condition illustratedin Figure 3;

Figure 8 is a detailed view of a portion of the rivet feeding attachmentto illustrate the construction for retaining the rivets in verticallystacked alignment as they are fed to the delivery passage and forpreventing the supplying of more than one rivet at a time to thedelivery means of the gun;

Figure 9 is a section on line 99 of Figure 8 showing in'its openposition a member for transferring single rivets to the delivery passageand for preventing plural entry of rivets to the delivery passage, and

Figure 10 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the mode oftransferring a rivet from the supply portion of the attachment to therivet-advancing portion thereof, and

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the operating half of the attachment,showing the gun in phantom.

The rivet feeding attachment, in the presently preferred embodiment,includes means for containing a supply of rivets; automatic means,independent of the force of gravity and operative regardless of theposition or attitude of the gun, for sortingrivets in succession fromthis supply, and feeding them in properly aligned attitudes towards adelivery passageway; means in said passageway for delivering the rivets,one at a time, to a point sub-adjacent the rivet set of the gun; andmeans for transferring the rivets, one at a time, from this point to apoint located forwardly of the center of the rivet set, for applicationthereby to the rivet hole. Means are also provided to prevent impropersequence of operation of these respective means with especial referenceto the half-cocked condition of the feeding attachment, .wherein toprevent feeding and transfer of a. subsequent rivet against the workpiece before the preceding rivet has been fully set. In addition, theillustrated embodiment includes means for preventing entrance ofunsorted or reversed rivets to the magazine and feeding means; and meansin the delivery zone for preventing jamming of the rivets in thedelivery zone by precluding the entrance of more than one rivet at atime into the delivery zone.

As will be made manifest hereinafter, the attachment does not involvethe presence either of a fixed tubular loading magazine acting bygravity or of an auxiliary air hose adapted to serve as a tubular rivetmagazine to bring the rivets to the gun from a distance. As will alsoFigure 4 is a similar view showing the parts in be made manifest, thegun with the present feeding attachment will operate in any position orattitude in which it is necessary to place it, the feeding attachmentbeing unaffected by the force of gravity or the attitude of the gun, ascontrasted to conventional, gravity-operated feed attachments. Indeed,the attachment is so nearly universal in its operative attitudes that,even without the operative aid of the air pressure,- the gun can beviolently shaken or vibrated in any direction and to any extent withoutconsequential eifects upon thepositioning of the rivets therein andwithout affecting the orderly and uniform operation of the attachment.Moreover, the handpull can be manipulated, for any desired reason, withthe air pressure shut off from the attachment, yet, notwithstanding thepartial or complete and repeated retraction of the handpull, thefasteners will merely go through the mechanical transfer phases of thefeeding operations. Thus, there will occur no jamming of the fastenersin the respective feed, delivery or transfer elements and, of course,none will arise in the arranging or aligning components of theattachment, even if the tool is violently vibrated while beingmanipulated as described above.

Referring now to the details of construction illustrated, the structureincludes a housing ll longitudinally divided into halves I la, andadapted to be mounted thereby on the barrel of a conventional rivet gun,indicated generally by reference numeral l2. In lieu of thegravityafl'ected magazines or sorting mechanisms of prior rivet feedingattachments, the present attachment is predicated upon a centrifugal airstream pick off and feeding group or device indicated generally byreference numeral l3. This sorting device is normally closed by a hingedcover I 4, which is preferably of a transparent nature to afford anopportunity to observe the status of the supply of rivets.

The feeding attachment, as well as the rivet gun per se, is energized bycompressed air controlled by a trigger 15, mounted on the inner face ofthe handle l2a of the gun. A hand pull I6 is pivotally mounted on theupper portion of the feeding attachment, as at the pivot H. The upperend of the hand pull is bifurcated and each fork l8 extends forwardlyand downwardly alongside each side of the barrel of the gun. Thebifurcation is spring .loaded, on its pivot, by means of a spring IS.The forks thusprovide arms terminating at their forward ends inattachment points for a transfer member 20.

The pivot 11 is located on a slide frame comprising a longitudinallyextending pair of parallel bars 22 hearing at their forward end a block23 have an axial bore 24, the frame having at its rear end a block 25.The block 25 is formed with rearwardly projecting ears 26. The slideframe constituted by these parts is mounted for movement forwardly andbackwardly of the length of the gun in guideways 21, defined by suitablyshaped surfaces located on the upper edges of each housing half Ho.

The rear block 25, on one or both of the outer faces thereof, isprovided with a multi-grooved camming face 28, the camways of which arehereinafter described in detail. A detent member 29 is pivotally mountedat one end on the adjacent wall of the housing half, the pivot beingconstructed with alongitudinal bearing surface cylindrical and aspherical inner end bearing surface to enable the detent to move both inthe vertical plane and to oscillate, or

rock, about its longitudinal axis. The latter pivotal movement isprovided for by the presence of a spacer 30 spherically rounded on theface contiguous to the member 29. At its other end, the detent carries alatch pin 3|, urged inwardly and downwardly in the respective camways onrespective occasions, later described, by a spring 32.

As will be hereinafter made clear in describing the operation of thedevice, the chief purpose of this detent and cam group is to control themovement of the slide member in such a manner as to prevent impropersequence of the occurrence of a certain step in the cycle of operations;that is, to hold the slide in a neutral position, in order to permit theoperator to give the set [21) a few auxiliary bursts," by depressing thetrigger IS without disturbing the position of the hand pull. Theseadditional bursts are sometimes called for by the bucker, especiallywhen he desires an odd-length fastener to be inserted by thumb and thenhave the gun operator employ the gun against same in the conventionalmanner.

The camming faces include a substantially horizontal section 33 having,toward the butt end of the 'gun, its inner face angled outwardly asindicated at 34 and terminating in an open horizontal track 35. A returntrack 36 for the latch pin is provided, and inclines diagonally upwardlyfrom the track 35. The forward end of this diagonal track is prolongedhorizontally as another camway 36a, interrupted at a certain point alongits length, as shown. Camway 36a extends substantially parallel to thecamway 33. The multi-grooved face of the block 25 also includes anangled camway comprising an upper portion 38 and a lower portion 39defining an acute angle therewith, the junction of these camwaysdefining a node or protuberance 40 for preventing the pin from droppingdownwardly into the lower horizontal camway from the upper horizontalcamway.

The cooperation of these camways with the latch pin and detent in thevarious phases of the cycle of operationswill be described hereinafterin connection with an explanation of the manner in which the feedingattachment functions in association with the gun.

The slide group is continuously subjected to a forward urge in itsguideways 21 by the resiliency of a bifurcated leaf spring 4| disposedin a cavity in the body of the housing h'alf, one of the forks 42 havingits upper end seated in a seat in the butt end of the slide, the otherfork 43 having its upper end in engagement with a pin 44 fixedly mountedin the housing half at a suitable distance from the rearward position ofthe slide group.

Formed in the body of the housing half is a chamber 45 having agenerally cup-shaped profile in section. That is to say, the chamber hasa peripheral wall 45a extending vertically and a wall 45b extendinginwardly at an angle thereto, conferring the configuration of a wide V,in section, upon the periphery of the chamber. The apex of the V liesaway from the center of the chamber, and the wall at the apex is oflesser diameter than the diameter of the upper circumference of thechamber. Passageways 46 communicating with the pressure fluid conduit inthe handle of the gun as by means of a suitable convenional air conduit,such as a short length of piping typified at reference numeral I areformed in the housing half and intersect the peripheral wall 45b. 'lhesepassageways tangentially intersect the periphery or the chamber and openthereinto at an angle thereto through orifices 41, distributed atsuitable points around the upper inner periphery of the chamber, in sucha manner as to apply the air streams tangentially to the mass offasteners and impart tangential force-components to the enteringairstreams. Thus a circumferentially whirling path is conferred upon theair as it enters the chamber, and this high pressure air rotates thecontents of the chamber circumferentially and, due to its high angularvelocity builds up a considerable centrifugal component therein. Whiletwo diametrically opposed jets have been shown and described, it is tobe understood that the purpose intended can be accomplishedsubstantially in the manner described if only one slightly larger andmore powerful jet is employed.

The lower or downward portion of the periphery of the chamber 45 asviewed in Figure 2 is provided with a groove 48 spirally tangent theretoas shown and leading outwardly and upwardly from a point of tangency inthe form of an oblong surface on the rightward half defining a planealpath 49 having a vertically extending groove 50 paralleling one sidethereof and intersecting the same in such manner as to define an edge5i. This compound and double rectilinear guideway is provided for thepurpose of accepting and thus sorting and conducting those rivets thatare presented shank first to the grooved passageway, and storing themuntil the time arrives to transfer them into a rivet delivery grouphereinafter described. The surface 49 is of a width sufficient toreceive the shanks of the rivets presented thereto shank-first, andgroove 50 is of such a depth as to receive approximately one half thecircumference of the heads of the rivets.

A removable cover 52 is provided to fit over the surface 49 and groove59. This cover consists of a substantially rectangular block having itsinner face channeled vertically and laterally in the portion thereofthat overlies and is coextensive with the planeal path 49, in suchmanner as to define a passageway for the rivets that is open on itsrearward face. That is, the inner face of the cover 52 is cut away inthe region of the path 49, starting at its rearward edges and theadjacent portion of the bottom edge, and the cutout extends upwardlyfrom these edges in congruency with the path 49. The cover 52 and path49 thus together define a horizontally extending slot 53 on their bottomedges, at the upper end of spiral path 48, and a vertically extending,rearwardly opening slot 59a tangent to the periphery of chamber 45.These slots are of the same cross-sectional area, which area is such asto enable the slots to receive only the shanks of the rivets, movingeither along the spiral path 49 or urged radially outwardly against theslot 59a. Neither slot is of such an area as to be able to receive theheads of the rivets. The slots thus accept rivets presented shank-first,but will reject rivets presented headfirst.

The passageway 49 and the groove 50 lead to a horizontally extendingrivet delivering zone later described. The passageway 49 and the groove50, at the upper portions thereof, are adapted to contain a plurality ofrivets in vertically stacked relationship, and the stack is maintainedintact against the forces of gravity and other disturb- "be operative inany position of the gun.

ing forces by a safety mechanism 58 hereinafter described.

The upper portions of the passageway 49 and the groove 50 thusconstitute a magazine which is not susceptible to the force of gravityand will T e rivets are thus fed in sequence into the magazine thusformed in proper arrangement by the novel action of the centrifugalgroup and the accepting and guiding group. The rivet first fed out ofthe container 45 of course will rest in the uppermost end of themagazine, in juxtaposition with a chamber 54 in the delivery bore.Chamber 54 is axially aligned with thebore 24, in which bore there is adelivery tube 55.

The rivets successively urged into chamber 54 by the air pressureapplied at the bottom of the stack are successively and positivelydelivered forwardly towards the nose of the gun, in the proper stage ofthe cycle of operations, by the action of a rod 55a projecting forwardlyand horizontally from the forward end of the rear block of the slidemember. The rod 55a, and the rear portion of the bore 55 in which itmoves, are both of a smaller diameter than the heads of the rivets, inorder to prevent the rivets from falling backwardly thereinto when therod is retracted. The rod 550. is of such a length as to fall short ofthe rearward end of the tube 55 in its most forwardly located position.The delivery of the rivets from this point onward is effected by meansof a portion of the fluid pressure .admitted to the delivery borethrough the orifice 13 of an air channel 51 formed in the housing halfshown in Figures 2, 3 and 4. Thus, the rivets are adapted to be' passedfrom the container 45 to the transfer member by two fluid-pressuretransfers and one mechanical transfer.

In order to prevent the stack of sorted rivets from becoming disaligned,or dropping downwardly and jamming, or failing to feed, in either eventrendering the device inoperative or preventing the entrance ofsubsequent rivets, there is provided a spring-loaded pivoted finger 58,as best seen in Figure 8. This finger is carried pivotally in a recessin the outer surface of the removable cover 52. As describedhereinbefore, this cover is adapted to fit over the guideway members 49and 50 with vertical clearance between the lower face of one of the rearportions of the cover and the sub-adjacent guideway face but in contactwith the shanks of the rivets, to complete the guiding function of theguideways 49 and 50. The finger 58 includes a resilient tail portion 58aadapted to be engaged by a pin 59 on arm l8; and a recurved head portion69 adapted to overlap, on occasion, the head of the lowermost one of thevertical stack of rivets. The head portion 60, when lying across thelower end of guideways 49 and 50, prevents entry of rivets not arrangedwith their shanks pointing forwardly, thus preventing jamming inthemagazine. This safety finger group includes a spring 8| interposedoperatively between the upper edge of the finger and the overlying wallof the groove in the member 52, the spring having its end seated andarranged to normally retain the head 60 in a depressed positionoverlying the lowermost rivet in the stack. By virtue of thisarrangement, thev rivets, as they enter the upper portion of theguideway, are maintained properly stacked sub-adjacent the deliverypassageway, despite the fact that the air pressure may not, at the time,have such a direction and value as to itself maintain the stack. So welldoes this 8 safety group perform its function that the gun may be heldin any position, and may even be violently shaken, without disaligningany of the rivets.

Although the lower portions of the passageway 49 and the groove 50 arenot completely enclosed on all sides, being open on the lower andrearward portions, inasmuch as the rearward and lower faces thereof mustbe open for reception of rivets from the centrifugal force-applyinggroup 45, etc., the upper portion of the guideway, by the coaction ofthe cover 52, is constituted a completely enclosed passageway, whicharrangement facilitates the proper feeding of rivets to the deliverybore.

For riveting work where it is not necessary to maintain a reserve offasteners in a magazine in the gun, the lengths of the passageways 49and 50 may, without departing from the scope of the invention, bereduced to the minimum. In fact, if desired, these passageways can beeliminated thus obviating the secondary magazine and the stack of rivetstherein. Rivets then passdirectly from the centrifugal chamber into themetering group that includes an antechamber 63. If, in this embodiment,the operation results in a few blank feeding movements, wherein no rivethappens to have been arranged in the chamber 54 by the centrifugalfeeding group, this will be of no consequence, since, in this particularemployment of the gun, it is not mandatory that a rivet be alwaysavailable at the exit 8191a of a passageway like that designated as 4Although the construction and arrangement of the parts, including therod or plunger 550., that cooperate with the delivery bore almostinvariably insure that only one rivet at a time will be fed into thebreech 54 of the delivery passageway, as a further measure to renderthis result almost infallible there is also provided a group generallyindicated at 62 and located at the point of egress of the rivets fromthe guideway 49 and 50, for preventing the entrance of more than onerivet at a time to the breech 54. This group also operates to transfer arivet from an antechamber 63 to breech 54. This group is shown in detailin Figures 8, 9 and 10 and includes a recurved member 64 pivoted to thehousing half for rotation about a longitudinal axis, parallel to theaxis of the delivery bore, and having a finger portion 65 adapted to bebrought into the path of subsequent rivets emerging upwardly from theguideways 49 and 50. The member 64 has a rearwardly extending portion65a presenting a cam face 66 rearwardly, and adapted to be engaged bythe front end of the rod 55a in its forward movement. This movementrotates the safety member 64 in a clockwise direction as viewed inFigure 9, and hence positions the finger 65 squarely in the upward exitpath of the rivets. In this position, it prevents the undesired egressof the next succeeding rivet until the proper stage in the cycle ofoperations has been reached. Reverse movement of the slide and its rod55a will efiect reverse rotation of the member 64 clearing a passagewayinto chamber 63 for the next succeeding rivet in the vertical stack. Aspring 65a is provided between the casing and the rotatable member 64and is so mounted as to tend to normally hold the member 64 in an opencondition, that is, with finger 65 retracted out of the entrance path ofthe rivets.

In the operation of the device, and commencing with the moving parts inthe half-cocked 9 condition, or condition of rest, shown in Figure 3,that is, immediately after the gun has driven a rivet, the hand pull l6now lies substantially in the neutral position shown. The rivet-holdingclaw portion of the transfer arm I8 is at this time maintained in propervertical position with reference to bore 24 by the engagement of a pin61, mounted on arm l8, in a camway 68 on a cam plate 69, the plateincluding a lower camway I0. That is, the lever I8 is held in adepressed position, the rivet-holding claw thereofholding the I nextrivet to be driven slightly above the front end of the delivery bore, toobviate the possibility of this rivet falling backwardly into thedelivery passageway. The slide and the cooperating detent and camwaysgroup are in the positions shown in Figure 7, with the latch pin 3| inthe angled camway 39, restraining forward movement of the slide. The pin3|, however, can enter camway 33 only when, later on in the cycle, thehand pull I6 is given a slight rearward retraction to enable the pin 3|to clear a protuberance 1|, provided to engage the detent and hold theslide in half-cocked position and prevent improper sequence ofoperation. In this stage of the operation of the device, also, the leveri8 lies out of contact with the resilient tail 58a of the finger 58,disposing the head 60 underneath the stack of rivets and maintainingthem in their vertical position in the magazine. In this phase, there isone rivet lying just ahead of plunger 55a and the magazine containsproperly arranged and aligned rivets ready to be fed one at a time intothe breech 54 of the delivery bore. The front end of plunger 55a, atthis time, lies co-linear with the rear end of the antechamber 63,somewhat rearwardly of the breech 54. The rotatable metering member 64has, in this phase of the cycle, been rotated completely into theantechamber 63, lying in the position for preventing entrance to breech54 oi the next lower rivet in the stack. The plunger 55a is then inengagement with the cam 66 on the member 65. Since the hand pull I6 liesout of contact with the trigger l5, no pressure air is being admittedinto the centrifuge 45, which hence remains in an inactive condition atthis juncture. There is also a rivet in the claw, lying above the outerend of the delivery tube, as well as a rivet in the inner end of thedelivery tube, contacting the plunger.

The next phase of the cycle of operations involves the cocking of thegun to transfer the rivet in the transfer claw to its driving positionin front of the set and to mechanically urge forwardly the rivet that isin front of the plunger into a position where it can be picked up andfed forwardly by the air jet in the next phase of the cycle. To cock thegun, the operator, as best shown in Figure 2, slightly retracts the handpull to enable pin 3| to clear the protuberance II. He then releases thehand pull to allow the slide group to move forwardly under the urge ofthe spring 4|. By this movement, the latch pin 3| is relatively shiftedrearwardly in camway 33, but is also urged outwardly by the inclinedface 34, being thereby rotated about its longitudinal axis to a certainextent, on spacer 30 as a pivot, in order to clear a protuberance 12,provided in order to prevent undesired return of the pin along camway 33at this juncture.

The pin 3| finally arrives in the rearward section of the horizontalcamway, in readiness to ride up the diagonal camway 36. The release ofthe hand pull results in the upward swinging of arms l8, transferringthe rivet in the claw to a position on center with the forward face ofthe rivet set. Since the arms l8 now lie out of contact with the tail58. the head 60 of the spring loaded finger 58 is maintained in contactwith the stack of rivets and prevents same from dropping downwardly,also preventing entry of disarranged rivets and of some of the fluidpressure. The forward movement of the slide and the plunger 55a urgesthat rivet which is shown in Figure 3 as located in front of the plunger55 forwardly in the delivery tube, the locking finger now being in theposition shown in Figure 10 and preventing entry of any more rivets atthis juncture. The centrifugal force-applying group still remains in aninactive condition, since the hand (pull I5 is still out of contact withthe trigger I5. Thus. at this juncture, there is a rivet on center withthe set and one subadjacent the breech.

The next phase of the operations, as best seen in Figure 3, involves theretraction of the hand pull into full contact with the trigger IE toactuate the rivet set and drive that rivet which has been centered infront of the set and loosely inserted into the rivet hole. It alsoeffectuates feeding of a rivet into the. lower portion of the magazine,and positions a rivet in front of the plunger 5511. Delivery of apreceding rivet from the outer portion of the delivery tube to thetransfer claw is also effected thereby.

As a result of this rearward retraction of the hand pull, the detentlever 29 pivots upwardly about pivot 30a and latch pin 3| is constrainedto ride upwardly upon the diagonal camway 36 and thence forwardly alongthe upper horizontal camway 36a, the pin 3| entering camway 38momentarily and then rising out of the groove and moving forwardly beingprevented from entering camway 39 by node 40. The pin 3| is thus pulledup and forwardly from its Figure 5 position by the action of the slideand comes to rest in the forward end of the upper horizontal camway, asshown in Figure '7. In this phase, the slide, as aforesaid is drawn sofar rearwardly that the foremost end of the plunger 55 then lies at therear of the axial bore provided therefor. This retraction of the handpull also fully depresses the front end of arms I 8 and latches same inthe camway 10 in the cam plate which is of such a shape and relativelocation as to effect alignment of the claw with the delivery tube atthe beginningv of the driving phase. coincidentally, but not before theupward component of the centrifugal force of the rapidly circulating airin chamber 45 enters 49 and has reached a magnitude sufiicient to holdthe stack of rivets properly in position in'the magazine, the pin 59engages the tail 58a and thereby raises the head 60, clearing theentrance to the magazine portion of the guideways 49, 50.

The centrifugal air pressure is therefore enabled to force anotherrivet, shank first, into the lower end of the stack in alignment withthe rivets already therein. The plunger 55a having been in the meantimewithdrawn by the rearward movement of the slide andhaving enabledreverse rotation of the finger 64 by its reverse action on the cam 66,the breech 54 lies open for admission of the topmost rivet thereinto andthe continued application of fluid pressure from the centrifuge groupurges this topmost rivet into the antechamber 63. At the same time,pressure fluid entering the passage 51 passes out its orifice I3 andforces into the claw of the transfer device above.

the rivet which had been previously urged by the plunger 55a to aposition located forwardly of the outlet of passage 51. The actuation oftrigger l also actuates the rivet set which, contemporaneously with theforegoing actions, drives and sets the rivet previously delivered infront of it, and held in the rivet hole up tothis time by the forwardpressure on the gun applied by the operators hand.

Thereafter, the operator releases his hand from the hand pullsufficiently to allow the hand pull to assume the position shown inFigure 4; that is, to again position the mechanism of the rivet feedingattachment in the half-cocked condition shown, with a rivet in the clawof the transfer device and another rivet in the breech of the deliverydevice, ready for delivery to the lowered end of the transfer device bythe successive actions of the plunger 55a and the fluid pressure in thepassage 51, which occurs, as aforesaid, when the hand pull is fullyretracted. The mechanism is then in a position for repetition of theforegoing cycle of operations.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its field ofutility to employment with rivets only and rivet guns alone, for it iscontemplated that it can equally well be employed, without departingfrom the scope of the inventive concepts, with analogous tools.

The invention is not limited, in the embodiments which it can take, tothe specific construction and arrangement of parts shown in theaccompanying drawings and described herein- For example, the tube 55 canbe dispensed with, if desired, this portion of the delivery bore beingthen constituted by surfaces formed in the body of the housing halfitself.

Numerous other fields of utility, and various additional modificationsof. and refinements in the construction disclosed, are contemplated aslying within the scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a pneumatic fastenerdriving tool having abarrel, a handle, a member operating on the axial line of said barrel todrive the fastener, and a member on the handle controlling theadmittance of air under pressure to said tool, of: means mounted on thebarrel for means for receiving from said container centrifugally urgedfasteners moving shank-forwardly therefrom; means for guiding saidfasteners oni wardly from said receiver and storing same; and

means including an instrumentality reciprocatable codirectionally withthe fastener driving mem-v ber to effect delivery movement of onefastener at a time and a manually movable member mechanically connectedto said reciprocatable instrumentality to effect reciprocation of sameand urge the fasteners forwardly.

2. The combination with a pneumatic fastenerdriving tool including abarrel, a member operating on the axial line of the barrel to drive thefasteners, and a member controlling the admission of air under pressureto said operating member, of: a casing associated with the barrel; amember supported in said casing for reciprocating movement towards theoperating face of said operating member; means in the casing for urgingfasteners stem-first to a position sub-adjacent said face andtransferring them in said attitude from said positon to said face; meansoperatively connecting said transferring means and said reciprocablemember to permit manual movement of said transfer member to effectreciprocation of the reciprocating member, said transfer means includinga portion for operating said air control; a chamber in said casing forcontaining a supply of fasteners, said chamber having an exit path onits periphery for said fasteners, means connected at one end to the airpressure and tangentially intersecting the periphery of said chamber atthe other end for imparting circular motion with a substantialcentrifugal component to the fasteners in said container so as to effectexit of fasteners along said path; means in said path for accepting andguiding fasteners presented shank-forwardly thereto; means in saidguiding means for accumulating fasteners shank-forward therein; andmeans for transferring one of such fasteners at a time to a position infront of a portion of said reciprocating member for delivery to saidtransferring member.

3. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by apressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: acasing; means therein for containing a supply of fasteners; meanscommunicating with the pressure fluid and associated with saidcontaining means and with said pressure-fluid system for applyingcentrifugal force to said supply of fasteners; means associated withsaid containing means for arranging the fasteners in a predeterminedattitude and feeding arranged ones onwardly; means defining a forwardlyextending delivery passageway in the casing; means connecting saidpassageway to the arranging means and having a portion constituting amagazine for arranged fasteners opening into said passageway; meansmovable in said passageway for urging a fastener forwardly in saidpassageway; and manually operable means pivotally associated with saidmovable means for moving same, said manually operable means terminatingat oneend in juxtaposition with said pressure-fluid control andterminating at the other end in a member positioned outside andforwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device andswingable therebetween for transferring a fastener urged to the foremostend of said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by saidfastener-driver.

4. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by apressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: acasing; means thereinfor containing a supply of fasteners having a shankand a head; means associated with said containing means and with saidpressure-fluid system for applying centrifugal force to said supply offasteners; means communicating with the pressure fluid and associatedwith said containing means for accepting, arranging in vertically spacedparallelism, and onwardly guiding fasteners presented shank-firstthereto; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway in thecasing, the last two means being in communication; means movable in saidpassageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; andmanually operable means pivotally associated with said movable means formoving same, said manually operable means terminating at one endadjacent said pressure-fluid control means and terminatingat the otherend in a member positioned outside and forwardly of said deliverypassageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween fortransferring a fastener urged to the foremost end of said deliverypassageway to a position to be driven by said fastener-driver.

5. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by apressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: acasing; means therein for containing a supply of fasteners having ashank and a head; means associated with said containing means and withsaid pressure-fluid system for applying centrifugal force to said supplyof fasteners; means communicating with the pressure fluid and associatedwith said containing means for accepting, arranging in vertically spacedparallelism, and onwardly guiding fasteners presented shank-firstthereto; means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway in thecasing, the last two means being in communication; means movable in saidpassageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; means fordisplacing said fastener further outwardly in said passageway; andmanually operable means pivotally associated with said movable means formoving same, said manually operable means terminating at one endadjacent said pressure-fluid control means and terminating at the otherend in a member positioned outside and forwardly of said deliverypassageway and said fastener device and swingable therebetween fortransferring a fastener urged to the foremost end of said deliverypassageway to a position to be driven by said fastener-driver.

6. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by apressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: acasing; means therein for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners;means associated with the first said means and independent of the forceof gravity for arranging the fasteners in a predetermined attitude andguiding same onwardly;

means defining a forwardly extending delivery passageway communicatingwith said onwardguiding means; means for transferring a fastener fromsaid guiding means to said passageway; means reciprocative in saidpassageway for urging a fastener forwardly in said passageway; means fordisplacing said fastener further outwardly of said passageway; andmanually operable means pivotally associated with said reciprocativemeans for reciprocating same, said pivoted means terminating at one endadjacent said pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end ina member position outside and forwardly of said delivery passageway andsaid fastener device and swingable therebetween for transferring afastener from the forward end of said delivery passageway to a positionto be driven by said driver.

7. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by apressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: acasing;

means therein for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners; meansassociated with the first said means and independent of the force ofgravity for arranging the fasteners in a predetermined attitude andguiding same onwardly; means defining a forwardly extending deliverypassageway communicating with said onwardguiding means; means forpositively preventing entrance of more than one fastener at a time tosaid passageway; means reciprocatable in said passageway for urging afastener forwardly in said passageway; means for displacing saidfastener further outwardly of said passageway; and means pivotallyassociated with said reciprocatable means for reciprocating same, saidpivoted means terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluidcontrol and terminating at the other end in a member positioned outsideand forwardly of said delivery passageway and said fastener device andswingable therebetween for transferring a fastener from the forward endof said delivery passageway to a position to be driven by said driver.

8. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated by apressure-fluid system including a control therefor, comprising: acasing; means for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners having ashank and a head; means opening at one end into the containing means andcommunicating at the other end with the pressure fiuid, the first saidend being arranged with reference to the containing means to impartcentrifugal motion to the contents thereof; means for receiving fromsaid container centrifugally urged fasteners moving shank-first; meansfor guiding said fasteners onwardly from said receiver; means defining aforwardly extending delivery passageway communicating with saidonward-feeding means; means reciprocatable in said passageway for urgingafastener forwardly in said passageway; means for displacing saidfastener further outwardly of said passageway; and manually operablemeans pivoted thereto and adapted for reciprocating same, said pivotedmeans terminating at one end adjacent said pressure-fluid control andterminating at the other end in a member for transferring a fastenerfrom the forward end of said delivery passageway to a position to bedriven by said driver.

9. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fastener-driver operated bypressure fluid including a control therefor, comprising: a casing; meanstherein for containing a supply of disarrayed fasteners having a headand a shank; means communicating with the pressure fluid at one end andcommunicating with the containing means at the l other end, forimparting centrifugal motion to the contents of said containing means;means for receiving fasteners in shank-first attitude from saidcontaining means; means for guiding said fasteners upwardly in theattachment; means defining a forwardl extending delivery passageway atthe upper end of said guiding means; delivery means mounted in saidattachment for reciprocation longitudinally thereof, and having afastener-transferring member reciprocatable in said delivery passagewayand adapted to urge the topmost rivet forwardly in said casing; meansfor enabling the fluid-pressure to transfer a fastener from saidguideway to said fastener-transferring member; means opening into saiddelivery passageway ahead of said fastener-transferring member andcommunicating with the pressure fiuid for urging said fastener forwardlyand outwardly of said delivery passageway; and manually operable meanspivotally mounted in the casing for reciprocating said delivery means,said manually operable means terminating at one end in a member forcooperating with the pressure fluid control, and terminating at theother end in a member for transferring a fastener from the deliverypassageway to the fastener-driver.

10. A fastener-feeding attachment for a fas- 15 containing a supply ofdisarrayed fasteners; channels in the casing communicating at one endwith the pressure-fluid system and opening tangentially at the otherinto said containing means to generate centrifugal forces capable ofacting on the contents of said containing means; means associated withone side of said containing means for receiving and holding fastenersforced shank-first therefrom; guiding means extending upwardly from saidreceiving means; a delivery passageway extending forwardly from theupper end of said guideway; means for retaining a supply of fasteners inshank-first stacked attitude in the upper portion of the guideway, withthe uppermost fastener in juxtaposition with said passageway, said meanspreventing entry into said g-uideway of fasteners in head-firstattitudes; means for transferring the uppermost fastener from said stackinto the rear end of said passageway; means reciprocatablelongitudinally of the passageway for displacing said fastener forwardlyin said passageway; means in the casing communicating with the pressure-fiuid system for urging the fastener outwardly of said passageway; and

means pivotally associated with said reciprocatable means forreciprocating same, said pivoted means terminating at one end adjacentsaid pressure-fluid control and terminating at the other end in a memberfor transferring a fastener from the forward end of said deliverypassageway to a position to be driven by said driver.

11. In a fastener-feeding attachment including a fastener magazine and afastener delivery passageway having a breech lying in juxtaposition withthe upper end of said magazine and a mem ber reciprocable forwardly andbackwardly through said breech: a device for preventing the entry ofmore than one fastener at a time thereinto and including a memberrotatably mounted parallel with the axis of said breech and having arecurved portion arranged to transversely close the passage from saidmagazine to said breech, said rotatable member having a rearwardlyextending finger protruding into the rearward portion of said deliverypassageway, said finger being provided with an actuating cam face curvedtransversely and longitudinally of the delivery passageway arranged tobe engaged by said reciprocable member on its forward stroke so as toeffect rotation of said rotatable member to block entrance thereinto ofthe succeeding fastener, the plunger having a length sufficient toinitiate rtation of said rotatable member into said blocking attitudebefore the plunger reaches said magazine.

12. In a fastener-feeding attachment having a casing including adelivery passageway, the combination of: a frame mounted in said casingfor reciprocation forwardly and rearwardly thereof from a fullyretracted to a fully protracted position, and including a memberreciprocable in said passageway for forwardly urging a fastener therein:a longitudinally extending transfer lever pivoted to said frame with itsfront end lying contiguous to the front end of said delivery passageway;an inwardly and downwardly biased detent lever pivoted at one end to thecasing for rotation about its transverse axis, the lateral face of oneportion of said frame having a substantially verticall extending angledcamway therein; and a pin on the other end of said detent lever arrangedto engage the rearward face of said camway to restrain further forwardmovement of said frame when the latter lies substantially median betweenits fully protracted and fully retracted positions.

13. In a fastener-feeding attachment having a. casing including adelivery passageway, the combination of: a forwardly biased frame memberslidably mounted in the casing and including a member adapted to urge arivet forwardly in said passageway; an inwardly and downwardly biaseddetent pivotally mounted in the casing near the rearward end of saidframe member for vertical and lateral rotation in the casing, and havinga. latch-pin urged into contact with the adjacent lateral face oftheframe member, the said face of the frame member having a lowerhorizontal camway for guiding said pin rearwardly and including anoutwardly angled portion for rotating said detent about its longitudinalaxis; an upwardly and forwardly inclined camway intersecting saidhorizontal camwa for guiding said pin out of said lower camway; an upperhorizontal camway intersecting said inclined camway at its forward endfor guiding said pin forwardly; and an acute angled camway connectingthe front end of said lower horizontal camway with the upper horizontalcamway.

14. For association with a fluid-operated riveting gun, having a set anda fluid-controlling trigger, to enable same to receive, in a disarrayedbatch, an unusually large number of rivets, arrange and store same, anddrive them singly when received from said storage, all entirelyindependently of manual manipulation of said rivets: a rivet carrying,arraying, storing, delivering and transferring adjunct operative in anyattitude and against the force of gravity, comprising: a body; aslide-member mounted on said body adjacent the upper edge thereof forreciprocation longitudinally thereof; a lever pivotally mounted on saidslide with its one end adjacent said trigger and its other endsubstantially coterminous with the set of said gun; a container in saidbody for a batch of loose, disarrayed rivets, said containercommunicating tangentially with the source of fluid-pressure; a spiralguideway leading outwardly and upwardly from the periphery of saidcontainer and adapted to receive rivets presented thereto in any.attitude; a receptacle forming a continuation of the spiral guideway andcommunicating with said reservoir; a detent pivotally mounted in saidbody adjacent the lower end of said receptacle and adapted to beoscillated transversely of said body, said detent having an end adaptedto underlie said receptacle in a position to maintain a plurality ofrivets.

stored in said receptacle against the action of gravity; aforwardly-extending rivet delivery passageway disposed adjacent theupper end of said receptacle; a plunger on said slide adapted to bereciprocated in said passageway when a rivet is disposed in the rearportion thereof; and a rivet-receiving member on the forward end of saidlever adapted to hold a rivet shank-forward while same is bodilytransported to the set by upward movement of said lever effected byretraction of the rearward end thereof.

15. For use with a single-shot fluid-operated hand-carriedfastener-driving tool, having a fluid-controlling trigger, to enablesame to receive at one time an unusually large number of fasteners in adisarrayed batch and drive same singly without manual, or rigidmechanical, arrangement of the fasteners: a fastener-carrying, arraying,storing, delivering and transferring device operative in any attitudeand against the 17 thereof; a bifurcated lever pivotally mounted on saidslide with its one end adjacent said trigger and its other endsubstantially co-terminous with the fastener-driver; a reservoir in thebody adapted to contain a relatively large quantity of dlsarrayedfasteners, said reservoir communicating tangentially with the source offluid-pressure; a guideway leading curvilinearly outwardly and upwardlyfrom the outer edge of said reservoir at constantly increasing radii anddisposed at positions to accept and guide therealong fastenerscentrifugally presented thereto from the reservoir by the tangentiallymoving air in any attitude; a rectilinear receptacle disposed incontinuation of the spiral guideway and in tangency to said reservoir ina position to accept and store fasteners presented thereto, saidreceptacle being open at the one end and along the one side andcommunicating thereat with said reservoir; a spring-biased detentpivotally arranged in said body adjacent said one end of said receptacleand adapted to be oscillated transversely of said body by saidco-terminous end of said lever, said detent having an end adapted tounderlie said receptacle in a position to maintain said plurality offasteners stored in said receptacle in said predetermined attitude andimmune to the action of gravity; a forwardly extending fastener deliverypassageway lying adjacent'the upper end of said receptacle; a plunger onsaid slide adapted to be reciprocated in said passageway; afastenerexcluding member rotatably mounted in said passageway adjacentthe upper end of said receptacle and having a rearwardly extendingfinger with a camming 'surface adapted to be contacted by said plungeronforward movement thereof to effect rotation of said member into TALBOTR. KNOWLES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 274,207 Matzeliger Mar. 20, 1883456,226 Senning July 21, 1891 704,098 Pickles July 8, 1902 1,358,900 VanHaagen Nov. 16, 1920 1,410,354 White Mar. 21, 1922 1,542,586 Rubin June16, 1925 1,604,220 Davis Oct. 26, 1926 1,703,458 Ruff Feb. 26, 19291,939,632 Randall s Dec. 12, 1933 2,171,029 Geldhof Aug. 29, 19392,187,692 Oeckl Jan.' 16, 1940 2,335,670 Harvey Nov, 3, 1943 2,340,552Mortl Feb. 1, 1944 2,368,847 Koehler Feb. 6, 1945

